Council split on proposed waterfront police station

“It appears we are a house divided amongst itself,” said Mayor Robert McConnell at the tail end of a very long Vallejo City Council meeting on Tuesday evening that centered around the possible site for the new Vallejo Police Department building.

Though it was not an “action item,” the question of relocating the VPD to 400 Mare Island Way left the council with a 3-4 split for-against as to whether or not

to continue discussions on the proposed site.

The meeting dragged on until 1:30 a.m. as council members, Police Chief Shawny Williams, Public Works Director Terrance Davis, and City Manager Greg Nyhoff all discussed the controversial topic of relocating VPD to the waterfront.

Architect plans for 400 Mare Island Way were presented to council via computer simulation, showing a tree-lined “community center” with its main entrance at the back and contemporary finishing designed to make the building appear “user friendly” to everyone.

The building was purchased in 2019 for $13.4 million and would cost an estimated $35 million to retrofit and upgrade into a usable new station. Everyone — community, police, council, and city staff — agrees that the police department’s current location on Amador Street is woefully inadequate, with an outdated HVAC system, lead and asbestos deposits, horrible sewage issues, and a lack of space for “21st Century” policing.

Both Councilmembers Mina Diaz and Tina Arriola reported dozens and dozens of emails and calls from community members opposed to locating the new station on Mare Island Way.

Two callers spoke during public comment in support of the site, but every other caller spoke out against it. The most common reason cited was cost, while others questioned the logic of using Vallejo’s most attractive byway for a huge police station instead of harnessing it for tourism and economic growth.

Caller Patricia Wright said that it would provide a “sense of security and safety for commuters,” who often get off the ferry or bus in the evening and find themselves hustling to their cars to avoid crime.

Councilmember

Dew agreed.

“It will improve the reality and perception of public safety,” Dew said. “Ferry riders will be more encouraged to walk instead of running to their cars, afraid of

Pippin being mugged or having their car broken into.”

Dew also thinks it might encourage people to stop into the tap room after work and attract even more businesses to the area.

Councilmember Hakeem Brown also supports the Mare Island Way location.

“We did our due diligence and this is the best building for us,” he said, adding later that he was “very impressed” with the proposed design. In his mind, the council already agreed to buy the building and to change course would be going backwards.

“As a business owner, the market is saying that no one wants to be there,” he said. “It was just sitting there for years. It is unfair to ask staff to move backward.”

Vice Mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga acknowledged that the council had voted for the building before and felt that the decision then should be respected. However, she said she was open to what the council decides to do now and she said she needs more detailed financing information.

Against the location were Diaz, Arriola, and McConnell.

Diaz said that we should not hold to a decision made from a previous council because in government, things change all the time. She used the presidential election as an example — as things that Donald Trump decided are now being reversed by Joe Biden.

She said that Mare Island Way is our city’s “Boardwalk” ala the Monopoly board game and should be used to bring in revenue. She was also uncomfortable with what she sees as a lack of details regarding costs.

“I have come to the conclusion that due diligence was not fully done,” she said, regarding potential costs but also the footwork in finding multiple viable locations in addition to this one. She encouraged Nyhoff to investigate how the city of Salinas managed to build a new police station for much less than Vallejo has proposed to spend. He said he would look into it.

Arriola also agreed that “too many important steps have been overlooked” for the council to seriously consider this location right now, calling it a tremendous expenditure that will have lasting impact over decades.

The starkest rebuke of the site came from Mayor McConnell, who said it comes down to money.

“The other night we heard that all the department heads are overworked and underpaid… and we have a staff who is unable to provide today what it is going to cost for this building,” he said. The mayor brought up the expected pension payouts in the coming years that will put the city “in the red.” He also pointed out a possible coming economic storm from COVID-19.

“Thirty to 35 percent are below poverty level here already,” he said of constituents. “People who work hourly jobs have been impacted.” Stimulus checks might have helped a bit in the short term, but in the long term, “we are going to be going downhill, not uphill,” he said.

Nyhoff defended the absence of a detailed cost analysis by saying that after COVID-19 hit, the entire Mare Island Way idea was put on hold. He said he didn’t ask for it to be agendized as a result, but it was added at the request of Arriola. Had he known it would be put on the agenda he could have worked out more financing information ahead of time.

Alternatives to the waterfront site could be building “from the ground up,” or leasing viable buildings elsewhere. The mayor also suggested that public works could find a new site (it now shares some of the lot with the current police station) and VPD could take over the entire area on Amador, along with remodeling and upgrading the current site.

In the end, things remained somewhat up in the air, though Nyhoff agreed to have detailed cost analysis of the proposed site ready for budget talks in the spring.

There will be a special council meeting on Thursday to discuss agenda items that were pushed back due to the long police department discussions on Tuesday. Moved are the discussions of litter abatement and a proposal from Dew to re-assess rules for posting on social media for those who represent the city.